Recommended Reading
Favorite Books of the Rowing Store staff and customers:The Internet has placed a world of information at our fingertips but it doesn't necessarily offer direct feedback from your rowing community. We offer books relevant to rowing, sculling and crew that are both in and out of print. Whether you read at home or at a regatta between races, the titles on this list are sure to inform, inspire and entertain. Note: If we do not carry a book that we recommend, we will offer a link to our friends at bookstores who do.
Tip of the Blade, by Marlene Royle.
A collection of over 100 articles by sculling coach, Marlene Royle; each piece offers a hands-on, practical approach toward improving your understanding of rowing. Whether you are a trainer, competitive sculler, or recreational rower, this anthology has valuable information to help you develop your technique, methods, and results.
Recommended by Jamieson Thomas (Skidmore Crew Alumni, Orlando Rowing Club Masters Rower and Sculler)
------------------------------------------------------------Rowing Faster, by Volker Nolte.
The most comprehensive and detailed guide for achieving excellence in the sport. Inside you'll find information about cutting-edge technique, training, drills and racing information used by World and Olympic champions. Also included are tests to assess your rowing fitness and workouts to develop an aerobic base, increase anaerobic threshold, improve VO2max, and build rowing-specific strength and power, a rowing periodization plan to sequence all the training components into a complete training program to maximize boat speed for all racing and racing plans and tactics. Cut through the water faster than ever. Rowing Faster will boost your speed and performance to the highest level.
Recommended by Marlene Royle (Rowing Coach, www.roylerow.com)
------------------------------------------------------------A Short History of Rowing, (1981) by Thomas Mendenhall.
The essence of the book is an introduction to the sport both for oarsmen and the general reader unfamiliar with rowing. Since rowing has had a revival, especially in high schools and colleges in the last thirty years, professional sports historians will experience an increasing need for competence in this under-emphasized field. Undoubtedly the book will be the standard monograph on rowing for some time to come and updates the last history of rowing published fifty years ago. (Robert F. Kelley, American Rowing, New York, G. P. Putman, 1932.)
Originally commissioned by the United States Olympic Rowing Committee, the text was written to acquaint oarsmen with the background of their sport. The text is quite brief, starting with the English origins of competitive rowing on the Thames, the American professionals of the 1870's, the amateur clubs, the rise of college rowing and the development of the America style. The final chapter is given over to the 20th century when the major style changes have come from Karl Adam at Ratzeburg, West Germany. Dr. Mendenhall is himself an enthusiastic oarsman, so to aid and interest the general reader; he has included much paraphernalia to help the uninitiated understand rowing. Mendenhall’s articles over the last few years in "The Oarsman" on the famous scullers and famous coaches can supplement this history.
Recommended by Robert Thomas (Orlando Rowing Club Novice Sculling Coach)
------------------------------------------------------------Assault on Lake Casitas, by Brad Allen Lewis.
An absolute must-read book for rowers, but also an amazing book for anyone who has ever fought to be the best then can be. Brad Lewis's determination to win an Olympic medal had taken over his life by 1984. He would be too old for the 1988 games and the 1980 team had been lost to world politics. Devastated after losing a critical race by nine-tenths of a second, Lewis went to the Olympic selection camp in hopes of earning his way into a national boat. He was not chosen, but Lewis was not to be denied, and his story is more than quest for the gold medal. It is about challenging convention, overcoming and working outside the system.
Recommended by Robert Thomas (Orlando Rowing Club Novice Sculling Coach)
------------------------------------------------------------The Omnivore's Dilemma:
A Natural History of Four Meals, by Michael Pollan. The bestselling author of The Botany of Desire explores the ecology of eating to unveil why we consume what we consume in the 21st century by tracing the impact of meals from four distinctly different origins.
Recommended by Pendleton Thomas (Winter Park High School Crew Alumni , Tri-athlete, and barefoot runner)
------------------------------------------------------------In Defense of Food: An Eater’s Manifesto, by Michael Pollan.
"Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants." These simple words go to the heart of Michael Pollan's In Defense of Food, the well-considered answer(s) he provides to the questions posed in the best-selling The Omnivore's Dilemma.
Recommended by Pendleton Thomas (Winter Park High School Crew Alumni , Tri-athlete, and barefoot runner)
------------------------------------------------------------Earthforce! An Earth Warrior's Guide to Strategy, by Captain Paul Watson
Captain. Paul Watson, one of the most brilliant ecological strategists of our generation, draws on the genius of Sun Tzu, the discipline of Miyamoto Musashi, the perception of Marshall McLuhan, and his own field experiences to present an effective strategic guide for any serious student of environmental or conservation activism.
